Yolanda Vieyra
Member Since 2022
My name is Yolanda and my cat is Tiger (16 y/o, neutered male).
A bit of history prior to diagnosis.
I have other cats, so ai wasn't sure who the culprit was for a while but had been finding urine behind the litter boxes for a couple months. I finally caught Tiger peeing on the floor after staking out the litter box room. I also noticed that he had become so hungry. He always liked to eat so at first it was nothing abnormal until it was his usual begging for snacks but counter surfing and trying to take food off our plates, eating like he hadn't eaten in days. He's always been at a healthy weight but ai noticed he began to look thinner, despite eating normally. (Had been on kibble with some canned food a few times a week). I also began to notice that he was hanging out near the water fountain and was drinking more than usual, the amount of urine output I would find on the floor or litter box was wayy more than I'd ever seen any of my cats. I started to suspect it could be something to do with his kidneys or diabetes.
Our vet was pretty busy so we had an appointment booked to have him checked out. I noticed he seemed pretty lethargic one day and it worried me so thankfully the vet managed to squeeze us in about a week before the appointment.
He did a urine and blood test. His initial thought wad that it was his thyroid because he also seemed anemic. His gums were quite pale.
Unfortunately this was over the long weekend, and after a super busy week for them we didn't get the results until about a week after. He called me to let me know that he had diabetes and wanted to have him brought in to do a glucose curve + start him on insulin. The testing and vet visit was already expensive and I'm not in the best place at the moment so I suggested I could do the glucose curve at home. Apart from it financially being better for me, I knew it would be better for Tiger. He gets so stressed out at the vet. When they pulled blood, I could hear him growling and screaming down the hall from the exam room I was in. When they brought him back to me he was panting and laying on the table looking so lethargic and dull. Even the vet looked super worried when he saw him like that. He made me stay longer to give him subq fluids and let him eat until he perked up before going home.
Vet told me he would need to confirm with the clinic manager about letting me to the glucose curve and that took another few days to finally hear back.
They said I would need to sign a waiver that I refused to do testing at the clinic and releasing them from any liability. I understand that and was fine with it but I wanted to confirm that this didn't mean I was looking to go at this alone. I wanted to do the curve, send him the info and go from there so he could watch over and advise as needed.
Since getting a diagnosis 07/06, I went out to buy him a low carb wet food and have been feeding only that. I needed to wait to get paid again to be able to buy the insulin and supplies to test. When we picked up the insulin a few days ago (Prozinc), the vet wanted to start him on 2 units.
I have everything now and did my first glucose test using the Bravo meter.
He tested 6.7 mmol/L before feeding. His ear bleed easily and I had no problem getting a reading but wasn't sure what the number meant so I went on the FB sister group to this form to double check before giving insulin.
To my surprise, I was told that was a pretty close to normal number and that sometimes diet alone was enough to help them regulate. I was advised to hold off on insulin and I will be retesting his glucose every couple hours to see if that was an accurate reading or if anything changes throughout the day.
I guess I'm confused now and a bit frustrated. If I can regulate him on diet alone, that's wonderful but I'm out $150 with a full vial of insulin and the dose I was told to start at could've been dangerous since his numbers are not high. At the vet, he was tested and it read 11.6. I don't know if that was due to stress or if the number came down due to the diet change I implemented.
I feel as though I should maybe look for a new vet. He is honestly very nice but perhaps I'd feel more comfortable with someone who is more collaborative, if that's the right word. It would be nice to feel a bit more support and advice rather than just being given instructions on dose and how to give insulin but not really be advised of what to look for/things to be aware of/ what numbers mean and what I should be aiming for.
I started a spreadsheet for Tiger. I'll update after I do all his testing today. I guess what I'm wondering is, if the diet alone is enough to regulate him how long does it take until I see changes in him (ie. The extreme hunger to normalize, the inappropriate urination outside the litterbox to stop)?
Dealing with the urine outside the litter box is the hardest part. I'm constantly cleaning and even though I've put down pee pads he has the habit of pushing them out of the way to go on the floor. It seeps through the tile cracks and goes to the hall way. It's so stressful and I live in a rental so I'm so worried about the smell. It's really draining me and I'm just hoping it'll get better.
He doesn't have arthritis so it's not a matter of him feeling too painful to go into the box. He jumps all over the place including his gigantic cat tower that basically goes to the ceiling, and places I'd rather he not jump like the top of the fridge to look for bread bags ( learned the hard way to not keep them there anymore). He always has used the litter box, this only started when I began to notice the other symptoms. Has anyone used the litter attractant with a diabetic cat and if so did it encourage then to go in the box?
If his sugars remain stable today, should I go to the vet for anymore testing? I need to be conservative about what tests I can do but is there anything that may be beneficial to help us understand if we're on the right track/ if I should even use insulin?
Long post and a lot of information. So sorry for that, I'm just feeling like my head is spinning. I want to make sure I'm doing whatever is best for him and not putting him in a potentially dangerous situation.
Thank you in advance!
A bit of history prior to diagnosis.
I have other cats, so ai wasn't sure who the culprit was for a while but had been finding urine behind the litter boxes for a couple months. I finally caught Tiger peeing on the floor after staking out the litter box room. I also noticed that he had become so hungry. He always liked to eat so at first it was nothing abnormal until it was his usual begging for snacks but counter surfing and trying to take food off our plates, eating like he hadn't eaten in days. He's always been at a healthy weight but ai noticed he began to look thinner, despite eating normally. (Had been on kibble with some canned food a few times a week). I also began to notice that he was hanging out near the water fountain and was drinking more than usual, the amount of urine output I would find on the floor or litter box was wayy more than I'd ever seen any of my cats. I started to suspect it could be something to do with his kidneys or diabetes.
Our vet was pretty busy so we had an appointment booked to have him checked out. I noticed he seemed pretty lethargic one day and it worried me so thankfully the vet managed to squeeze us in about a week before the appointment.
He did a urine and blood test. His initial thought wad that it was his thyroid because he also seemed anemic. His gums were quite pale.
Unfortunately this was over the long weekend, and after a super busy week for them we didn't get the results until about a week after. He called me to let me know that he had diabetes and wanted to have him brought in to do a glucose curve + start him on insulin. The testing and vet visit was already expensive and I'm not in the best place at the moment so I suggested I could do the glucose curve at home. Apart from it financially being better for me, I knew it would be better for Tiger. He gets so stressed out at the vet. When they pulled blood, I could hear him growling and screaming down the hall from the exam room I was in. When they brought him back to me he was panting and laying on the table looking so lethargic and dull. Even the vet looked super worried when he saw him like that. He made me stay longer to give him subq fluids and let him eat until he perked up before going home.
Vet told me he would need to confirm with the clinic manager about letting me to the glucose curve and that took another few days to finally hear back.
They said I would need to sign a waiver that I refused to do testing at the clinic and releasing them from any liability. I understand that and was fine with it but I wanted to confirm that this didn't mean I was looking to go at this alone. I wanted to do the curve, send him the info and go from there so he could watch over and advise as needed.
Since getting a diagnosis 07/06, I went out to buy him a low carb wet food and have been feeding only that. I needed to wait to get paid again to be able to buy the insulin and supplies to test. When we picked up the insulin a few days ago (Prozinc), the vet wanted to start him on 2 units.
I have everything now and did my first glucose test using the Bravo meter.
He tested 6.7 mmol/L before feeding. His ear bleed easily and I had no problem getting a reading but wasn't sure what the number meant so I went on the FB sister group to this form to double check before giving insulin.
To my surprise, I was told that was a pretty close to normal number and that sometimes diet alone was enough to help them regulate. I was advised to hold off on insulin and I will be retesting his glucose every couple hours to see if that was an accurate reading or if anything changes throughout the day.
I guess I'm confused now and a bit frustrated. If I can regulate him on diet alone, that's wonderful but I'm out $150 with a full vial of insulin and the dose I was told to start at could've been dangerous since his numbers are not high. At the vet, he was tested and it read 11.6. I don't know if that was due to stress or if the number came down due to the diet change I implemented.
I feel as though I should maybe look for a new vet. He is honestly very nice but perhaps I'd feel more comfortable with someone who is more collaborative, if that's the right word. It would be nice to feel a bit more support and advice rather than just being given instructions on dose and how to give insulin but not really be advised of what to look for/things to be aware of/ what numbers mean and what I should be aiming for.
I started a spreadsheet for Tiger. I'll update after I do all his testing today. I guess what I'm wondering is, if the diet alone is enough to regulate him how long does it take until I see changes in him (ie. The extreme hunger to normalize, the inappropriate urination outside the litterbox to stop)?
Dealing with the urine outside the litter box is the hardest part. I'm constantly cleaning and even though I've put down pee pads he has the habit of pushing them out of the way to go on the floor. It seeps through the tile cracks and goes to the hall way. It's so stressful and I live in a rental so I'm so worried about the smell. It's really draining me and I'm just hoping it'll get better.
He doesn't have arthritis so it's not a matter of him feeling too painful to go into the box. He jumps all over the place including his gigantic cat tower that basically goes to the ceiling, and places I'd rather he not jump like the top of the fridge to look for bread bags ( learned the hard way to not keep them there anymore). He always has used the litter box, this only started when I began to notice the other symptoms. Has anyone used the litter attractant with a diabetic cat and if so did it encourage then to go in the box?
If his sugars remain stable today, should I go to the vet for anymore testing? I need to be conservative about what tests I can do but is there anything that may be beneficial to help us understand if we're on the right track/ if I should even use insulin?
Long post and a lot of information. So sorry for that, I'm just feeling like my head is spinning. I want to make sure I'm doing whatever is best for him and not putting him in a potentially dangerous situation.
Thank you in advance!
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